


together for tomorrow

by StudentOfEtherium



Category: Bakemonogatari
Genre: ACAB, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Serial Killers, F/F, Gay, Multiplicity/Plurality, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 17:54:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27760336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StudentOfEtherium/pseuds/StudentOfEtherium
Summary: Nadeko is working at a coffee shop just trying to get by and Tsukihi is a detective only recently promoted from her apprenticeship. They're drawn together, but between them, unknown to the both, things can't last.
Relationships: Araragi Tsukihi/Sengoku Nadeko, Hanekawa Tsubasa/Oikura Sodachi (mentioned/implied)
Kudos: 5





	1. prologue: a presentation of a mystery

The lights of the city poured in from the cracks in the curtains. The killer was otherwise shrouded in darkness. The victim lay where he had died on the couch. A knife stuck out of his chest. The wound was still fresh, but the blood was beginning to dry. The killer stood up from where she sat and grabbed the knife from his chest. She calmly walked over to the sink and washed the knife. Once she was sufficiently satisfied with it, she returned it to its sheath. She walked back to where she had been sitting. On the floor were several white snakes. All of them were dead. “Hey hey Kuchinawa what do I do next?” She whispered to herself. She hesitated and tilted her ear up. The room was silent, but as if someone responded, she nodded. She picked up the snakes and pulled out an equal number of metal stakes from her bag, along with a small hammer. She walked over to the body, placed them down next to the corpse, and held a snake against the wall next to the deceased’s head. She drove a stake through the snake’s skull and into the wall. She stepped back and examined her work. Seemingly satisfied, she repeated this work several more times until the victim's head was surrounded. The killer stumbled backwards and sat down on the floor across the room from the victim, staring at her work. “Exactly like you asked, Kuchinawa. Are you happy?” She tilted her ear like before. She nodded and stood up. She collected her tools from around the room and returned them to the bag. Once she was done, she donned a large sweatshirt she had come in with, along with a black face mask. She glanced back at the room to make sure her work was done, before opening the door and making her leave.


	2. didn't know but it was love

Nadeko woke up early. Her job demanded it, or else she would go back to bed for at least a few hours more. After getting home late last night, she had only been able to sleep a short time before getting up again.

Her tiny apartment faced the east side of the city, so in the summer months, if she left the window open, the early sun would work as an alarm clock. Why not just use an alarm clock, one might ask. Well, as Nadeko would explain it, a blinding ball of fire is harder to ignore.

She dragged herself out of bed and towards the closet. She grabbed some clothes, threw them on, and hurried out the door without stopping to eat. She could do that at work. The time between waking up and leaving, in total, was less than 15 minutes.

Only once she was on the train did Nadeko stop to take a breath. As she did, she pulled out her phone to start browsing the news. Every website’s headlining article was about a high-profile murder the night before. Rather than stop to read about it, Nadeko just scrolled past. Once she was bored with that, she switched to twitter for the rest of the ride. Before long, she was at her destination. She got off the train and started walking the rest of the way to work. Thankfully, it wasn't far from the station.

She quickly saw she wasn't the first to arrive. The manager had opened and was already setting up tables. Nadeko waved silently as she entered, then walked over to the counter and grabbed a pastry, before sitting down at a table and starting her breakfast. It was just a small pastry, so it didn’t take long to eat.

She cleaned up after herself and got to work. Between her and the manager, it didn't take long at all, and before long, it was close to opening time. Several minutes before doors were set to open, the other employee for the shift finally arrived. From behind the counter, Nadeko waved. “Hey Tsubasa.” She waved back and hurried into the backroom to get ready. And then, several minutes later, the store opened and the day began.

It wasn't long before customers began making their way in. A mix of students in need of caffeine for early classes, wage slaves on their way to work, and whatever other people find themselves in a coffee shop before eight in the morning. As six became seven and seven became eight, the crowd grew as the morning rush began. Eight became nine and the crowd lightened, leaving only students with mid-morning classes and those who had been there hours earlier, before their redeye lessons. Nine turned to ten and even they left. But as ten turned to eleven, it filled up again, not with customers stopping by for a moment, but people coming in and taking a booth to be there for hours.

Most of those coming in at the time were regulars, either students from the nearby university or people from a variety of businesses in the area seeking to get work done outside the office. However, among them was someone new. She came in carrying a small briefcase, ordered a sweetened green tea and a small cake, then sat down in the corner where she opened the briefcase and scattered a variety of papers across the table.

Nadeko turned to Tsubasa. “I'm, uh, gonna go take my break now. Will be back before long.” Her coworker smiled and waved her off. “Have fun. I doubt I'll have any issues while you're gone.”

Nadeko walked into the backroom and spent a couple of minutes there, before walking back out without her nametag and sitting down next to the girl with the briefcase.

The girl, lost in her work sorting through all kinds of papers, didn't notice Nadeko at first. Given the limited time she had for her break, Nadeko wasn't inclined to wait until she finally caught her attention, so instead she poked the woman's shoulder.

“Hey.” Nadeko smiled as the woman turned to face her. “Oh! Hi, uh, sorry.” She swept up the papers into a pile and covered them up with her plate and cup. Nadeko looked down at the papers, but the writing was too dense to discern anything from it.

“Please don't read this! Confidential information! This is stuff only the police are allowed to know.” Nadeko looked away from the papers and at the woman. “...Are you a cop?” The woman shook her head. “Well, no actually, I'm not. I'm a detective. I suppose that's a fake cop, if anything, but I'm not on any police force. My brother tells me it's all the same, but I don't really take him that seriously.”

“...So your brother is a cop?” The woman nodded her head enthusiastically. “And my sister. Same as our parents, it's the family trade. I wasn't exactly planning to follow in their footsteps. I've always wanted to be a fashion designer, but that didn't play out and being a detective ended up being the fallback plan.” She stopped herself. “Sorry for going off like that, you probably don't care.” Nadeko shook her head. “No, it's fine, I don't mind.” She glanced down again.

“But, so this is pretty secret stuff, yeah? Sounds pretty impressive.” The woman nodded enthusiastically. “It's pretty neat! It's actually my first case working alone after my apprenticeship. I'm hoping I don't mess it up or anything.”

“Oh, interesting. I don't know much about detective work beyond what I've seen in dramas, and, well, the kind of dramas I watch only ever feature it as a tertiary element compared to the romance, so I can't even say they were especially informative.”

The woman laughed. “Yeah, I can't imagine they would be.” To Nadeko, the laugh was cute, lovely, adorable. It was captivating.

“...Anyways… The reason I stopped by is that we don't really get strangers in here, especially people coming in like this. You stood up and if you're going to be a new regular, then I wanna get to know you.” She smiled sarcastically. “That's just good business, y'know?” The woman laughed again.

Nadeko continued, “That said, I don't think I ever got your name. I think you saw mine at the counter, so it's a little unfair I don't have yours.” The woman stared at her with a scrunched up face for half a decade before responding. “I'm Tsukihi! Nice to meet you, I guess.” Nadeko smiled once more, this time more genuine. “Likewise.”

She started standing up. “I'd love to talk more, but unfortunately I need to get back to work.” Tsukihi perked up at that and started digging through her pocket. “Oh! In that case, let's exchange numbers! I'll get in touch with you later.” Nadeko's eyes grew wide and she stifled an eep as she took out her phone as well and the two read off their phone numbers to each other. She then returned to the backroom and a couple minutes later returned to the counter. As she did, Tsubasa began to chide her playfully. “Y'know, I wonder what the company policy on flirting with customers is.” Nadeko rolled her eyes. “Whatever it is, you'd better hope it's lenient, or else you should try and explain your conversations with that gray-haired girl in a way that gives it some other explanation than what looks obvious.” Rather than respond, Tsubasa just blushed and returned to the task she'd been working on prior.

Work continued for a few more hours more, but a while after midday, it was time to close up shop. Nadeko, Tsubasa, and the manager cleaned up the café quickly, and then it was time for the three to go home. Each went their own ways, and with little more than a light wave towards her coworkers, Nadeko turned around and started walking in the direction of the train station that would bring her home.

The first thing Nadeko did when she got home was run into bed and collapse. Having only gotten a couple hours of sleep and worked a full day's shift, she was exhausted. She debated with herself taking a nap, and in the end her weariness won out. She slid under the covers and closed her eyes. It was clearly five by the time she awoke again. Not enough time to make up for lost sleep the night prior, but still plenty to make her feel less dead inside. She dragged herself out of bed and towards the tiny kitchen her apartment had. On the way back, she had stopped at a convenience store and picked up an easy dinner. She set about preparing that, then sat down at her desk and began eating. It was only then that she noticed her phone had some new notifications.

“We both agreed we should talk later. Is this later enough, or a little bit more?”

The messages had been sent while Nadeko was asleep, so she typed a quick response. “Oh! Yeah, now’s fine. Sorry I didn't respond sooner. Fell asleep after work and only just woke up.” It was a couple more minutes before she got a response. “Oh! Okay, I getchu.” Then they stopped messaging each other for several minutes as neither knew what to say. Eventually Nadeko was the one to break the silence.

“We could do dinner, if you want. My work is always morning hours, so we couldn't be out too late, but that'd be a nice opportunity.” Less than a minute later, Tsukihi responded. “Oh, I'd love to. Any ideas where?”

The pair slowly worked out the details, and by the time Nadeko was done with her dinner, she had another planned. They agreed to Friday, two days from then.

From there, Nadeko spent the rest of the night drawing. After several hours of that, however, she was ready for bed. It was earlier than she would usually retire, but given her lack of sleep the night prior, she opted to give herself more time for that than less.

She got ready for bed quickly and soon was laying under her blankets. After checking her phone for messages from Tsukihi or her coworkers and finding nothing, she turned over, ready to be asleep. Then, she passed out practically immediately.


	3. nothing special, but so special

Nadeko stood outside the restaurant. More accurately, she stood outside the building. Nadeko typically ate in, due to being a poor millennial only capable of affording a cramped studio apartment in downtown Tokyo. As such, when it came to picking a restaurant, that had been Tsukihi’s job. Quite possibly by accident, or perhaps intentionally, the other woman had picked a place not far from the café Nadeko worked at. It was one of a number of restaurants in the building.

Nadeko wasn't waiting for more than five minutes before Tsukihi came running up. She was dressed considerably more fashionable than Nadeko.

“Hey! We're here.” Nadeko smiled. “Yup. Seems so.” The pair stood awkwardly on the sidewalk for a beat before Nadeko gestured at the building. “Well, let's go in.” Tsukihi nodded enthusiastically, then pushed the door in and led Nadeko through. The pair walked through an open space and up some stairs towards a restaurant in the back. They entered and got a table, then sat down. After a brief respite to order, their conversation began in earnest. Nadeko went first.

“So… you said you're a detective? What's that like?” Tsukihi placed a finger on her chin as she thought. “A lot more boring than you'd think. There's so many papers to read through and a lot of my job is being redundant and calling witnesses. Far from the exciting stuff you see on TV.” She stopped, then started again. “Oh! But I have been making good progress on my case.” Nadeko perked up. “Oh, that murder a few days ago?” Tsukihi nodded. “Yeah, I've been able to connect it to a couple other murders that have happened lately. Seems like it's a serial killer who started recently.” She stopped again, for real this time. “Oh, sorry. This is pretty grisly stuff, not something to talk about at dinner.” Nadeko smiled and shook her head. “It's fine, it's fine. I don't mind. In fact, I've always been the macabre type. This sort of serial killer stuff fascinates me.” Tsukihi blushed. “Oh. Alright. Still, I've been talking so much here, why don't you tell me about what you do?”

Nadeko laughed quietly and shrugged. “I work at a coffee shop. Not much to say there, is it?” Tsukihi shook her head. “I'm sure there's more to you than just work, and I'm sure there's more to your work than just making coffee all day.”

Nadeko thought for a second. “I dunno. I guess I draw manga as a hobby.” Tsukihi’s face lit up. “Oh really! That's so cool.” Nadeko laughed nervously. “Is it? I mean, it's kinda childish. And I've never even been serialized.” She sighed. “I mean, I'll submit my stuff to contests here and there, but it's all really amateurish. It's really just something I do outside of work to keep myself from going any madder than I already am.”

“It's still really cool! You're creative and stuff, I respect that.”

“Ehhh. You haven't read my stuff, it's not really worth talking about that highly.” Before she could give Tsukihi a chance to refute her, Nadeko continued, “But that's me, let's go back to you. I wanna hear more about this murder case, that is if you can tell me.” Tsukihi thought about it for a second. “Well… alright. I don't know how much you've been keeping up with the news-” “I don't.” “But if you do then some of this might be redundant.”

Tsukihi reached over to her purse and grabbed her phone out. “I keep notes on here.”

She tapped around on screen for a bit before finally stopping and looking back at Nadeko. “Okay, so, how much do you know about the murder scene?” Nadeko hm’d for a second, then responded. “Tsubasa told me a little about that. Apparently it's a mess, really gory and stuff. Otherwise, I don't really know. There's only so much you learn from your know-it-all coworker talking about it before work.” Tsukihi nodded. “Got it! There's actually a lot more to it than that. It  _ was _ really gory and bloody, but one of the most notable aspects of it is these snakes that got staked to the wall near the corpse. It's ritualistic, and some people suspect it's a new cult or something. I'm not convinced, though. If it's a cult, then it's super underground.”

Nadeko smiled lightly. “Oh, that's freaky. If it's not a cult, then it's gotta be some psycho, yeah?” Tsukihi frowned. “We don't really use terms like that anymore. It's not really nice, but more importantly, it's pretty inaccurate. You don't really get people thinking they have the voice of God in their head telling them to kill other people. It's probably just some salaryman who snapped after too much overtime. The victim was a manager at a company in the area, so I've been looking into that, but I haven't found anything yet.”

Nadeko nodded. “Oh, interesting. I'll have to keep this in mind in case I ever write a murder mystery story.”

Tsukihi put her phone on the table face down. “Well, let's use this as an opportunity to turn this back to you. The way you say that makes me think mysteries aren't what you usually write, but I'd be curious to know what kind of manga you make in your spare time.” Nadeko shrugged. “Romance, mostly. Occasionally something more action-focused. As a kid I read a lot of shounen, but as I've grown older, I've found myself reading more shoujo, which fuels the romance.” Tsukihi sat back and took a sip from her drink. “Romance, huh? What kind? Guy and girl, or…” Nadeko waved her hands in an indifferent manner. “Girl and girl, but a lot of the contests I send my stuff into won't accept that so I write guy and girl often too.”

“Oh, that's cool.” Nadeko blushed. “It's really not. That kind of thing isn't anything special anymore. Magazines like Yuri Hime or Galette mean it's not really niche.” Tsukihi leaned forward excitedly. “No, it really is cool! Just because others are doing it too doesn't diminish that.”

“Let's go back to you, then.” Tsukihi snickered at the diversion, but accepted it. Nadeko continued, “So do you have a suspect or a lead yet?” Tsukihi shook her head. “Nope. I need to check the employees at the victim's company, but that's going slowly. Otherwise, the only lead I have is a witness account from someone on the same floor. Apparently they say a young woman leaving that general area carrying a large duffel bag. Unfortunately, that's a pretty unhelpful description so it doesn't give me much to go off of. Seems she was wearing pretty nondescript clothing, too.” She slumped down as Nadeko responded. “But like, can't you dust for fingerprints or look at security footage?” Tsukihi frowned. “Normally, yeah. Seems whoever did this was pretty careful about that, though. They didn't leave any fingerprints behind and the cameras only caught them leaving. It's a mystery how they got in.”

“A locked room mystery?”

“At the moment. I'm sure it'll be figured out, though. This case was only just opened, y'know?” Nadeko shrugged. “Makes sense.”

Their conversation was suddenly interrupted by the arrival of dinner. They began to eat, and as they did, they resumed conversation; however they decided to drop the previous topic. They continued talking about themselves, just in other ways. Nadeko talked about her coworkers and Tsukihi talked about her siblings. They discussed their childhoods and tried to find shared interests. Before long, they were done eating. As an excuse to keep talking, they ordered dessert, and drinks after that. By the time they were running out of reasons to keep themselves at the table, it was getting late. They left together.

“You took the train here, right?”

“Yeah, the station is right by this.” Tsukihi typed away at her phone as they exited the building. “Well, my sister dropped me off, so maybe we can drop you off on your way home.” Nadeko thought about it for a second. “Do you live anywhere near my apartment?” Tsukihi laughed. “No idea! Yes or no?”

“Eh, what the hell. Sure.” She paused. “But it's a lot that I'll be meeting your family on the first date.” Tsukihi giggled and punched Nadeko's arm lightly. “This wasn't a date.” Nadeko stared at her for a few seconds. “Wh-” Tsukihi paled.

“Ohmygodthiswastotallyadatewhatthehell.”

She immediately started attempting damage control. “I mean, I don't mind that it's a date. I was hoping this would lead to a date. This being a date isn't a bad thing. I just didn't realize that it was.” All the while, Nadeko was cackling to herself. She recovered as fast as she could and responded, “Well, does that mean you're up for a second date, then?” Tsukihi blushed. “Guess so…”

The pair was interrupted by a car honking at them. The window rolled down and from inside, someone started shouting at the duo. “Are you going to get in?” Tsukihi blushed harder and ran over. She opened the door and gestured for Nadeko to go in first. They sat in the back seat together and the car started once more.

“Tsukihi said your name is Nadeko, right?” Nadeko nodded. “Yeah.” From the front seat, the driver nodded. “And what's your address?” Nadeko rattled off a street name and building number. The driver nodded and refocused on driving.

However, it wasn't long before they ran into traffic. Despite the late hour of the night, the streets were still crowded enough to cause problems. With little else to do in the car, Nadeko tried to start a conversation.

“So, uh, Karen?”

“Yup.”

“Tsukihi told me a little about you at dinner. You seem… interesting.” Karen laughed a little. “Oh? In what ways was my baby sister ratting on me this time?” Tsukihi interrupted. “I'm not your ‘baby sister’! You're only like a year and a half younger than me.” Karen shook her head. “That's still enough for me to have always been two grades ahead of you in school.” Tsukihi groaned. “But we're adults now! Coworkers, even! Why does that matter?”

“Well, I've been on the job for two years and you only just started it, so…”

In an effort to restore some order to the conversation, Nadeko answered Karen's question. “Well… Hard to say what she said when I don't know what she didn't say, but… You're a cop, you're a martial artist, you're a fan of action movies… I dunno, if you're looking for gossip she shared with me, it's not like she told me about any of your boyfriends or whatever.”

“Well, that's good to hear. She's always been a bit of a gossip with a mouth that doesn't hold back, so I'm glad she's finally learning to shut up about some stuff.” Tsukihi interjected, “Yeah? I don't just blab to anyone and everyone.” Karen chuckled. “Sure, sure. That gets saved for the second date.”

The car stopped at a light, which gave Karen time to turn around and face Nadeko. “But that's a lot of sibling bickering. What about you? I'm kinda curious about the girl my baby sister is dating now.” Nadeko glanced aside. “Well, I don't think I'm especially exciting. I work at a coffee shop, draw manga as a hobby, and go to bed early because I wake up at four thirty in the morning for the aforementioned coffee shop job.” A car behind them honked and Karen turned back around to the newly shining green light and started driving once more.

“Oh, that's pretty early. You gonna be okay getting back this late?”

“Yeah, it won't be an issue. I stay up late from time to time. I have Sunday off, so as long as I don't die tomorrow, I'll be able to spend the whole day in blessed unconsciousness.” Karen shrugged. “Alright.”

The rest of the ride home was spent on idle chatter. By the time Karen was rolling up in front of Nadeko’s apartment building, it was undeniably late. Karen parked the car by the curb and the two passengers got out. They walked towards the building and stopped just a few feet away from the entrance.

Nadeko started the goodbyes. “Well… Goodnight.” Tsukihi fidgeted awkwardly. “Yup. Looking forward to seeing you again. We should do this again sometime.” Nadeko shook her head in agreement. “Yeah. We can schedule that some other time. I'm getting kinda tired.”

“Alright! Will get back to you tomorrow or something. And I'll probably see you on Monday at the café again. Undoubtedly I'll have more papers to go over by then. Lord knows this job has no end to that…” She trailed off and recomposed herself. “Anyway! This was really nice. Talk to you soon.” There was a moment of silence, before finally Tsukihi turned around towards the car. She said one last goodbye to Nadeko from behind before sitting down in the front seat and closing the door. Nadeko spun herself back around to face her building and entered. She made her way to the elevator and let the wait for it to arrive and the ride up to her floor act as a respite for her emotions. By the time she was back in her room, she was ready to collapse. She unlocked the door, ran over to the bed, and flopped face down onto the mattress, where she lay for several minutes.

However, before long, she sat back up. She groaned. “Tonight? Really? Can't I just sleep?” She was silent for a short time before she continued. “Fine.”

Nadeko stood up and started gathering materials around her room. From underneath her bed, she grabbed a duffel bag, which she threw near the door. She reached into the closet and picked out some indistinct black clothes. Then, last of all, she walked over to a large terrarium along one wall and opened the lid. Innumerous white snakes slithered around in the tank. Nadeko reached below the tank and pulled out a smaller cage, then grabbed a number of snakes from the tank and put them in the cage. She got dressed in the clothes she had pulled out and put the cage inside the duffel bag. Then, with one last glance back at her apartment for certainty, she grabbed the duffel bag and left. She didn't return until hours later.


	4. the stars are to fall down

Nadeko had been fidgety at work all day. She tried to pass it off as nothing, but Tsubasa could tell something was up with her. As soon as the café was closed and she was done at work, she practically bolted out. However, she didn't return home. She had a different destination.

She soon found herself in front of a tall apartment building. She entered, and as she did, she frowned. There were a number of cops around the elevator, not blocking it off but rather just standing around. Nadeko opted to take the stairs. It took a number of minutes for her to walk up the stairs to her destination floor, but eventually, she was there. After taking a second to catch her breath, she opened the door from the staircase to the hallway.

The hallway was empty. Breathing a sigh of relief, Nadeko stepped out and started towards her destination. As she approached, she heard voices from further down. As she got closer, the grew louder, until she was just one more corner away. She glanced around to see a couple of cops, similar to the ones on the ground floor, standing around outside an open door. Nadeko groaned and turned around, ready to accept defeat. She looked down as she walked away. In doing so, she didn't see Tsukihi walking down the hall. For her part, Tsukihi was busy reviewing information about the newly discovered victim on her phone. Each oblivious to the other, the pair collided.

“N-Nadeko?”

“Tsukihi?”

The pair stared at each other for a time before continuing. Tsukihi went first. “What are you doing here?” Nadeko froze, but recovered quickly and stammered out a response. “Oh, well… I'm here to get something from a friend's apartment. I dropped it and accidentally left it there over the weekend.” Tsukihi nodded. “I see, I see.” When Tsukihi didn't explain, Nadeko took it upon herself to ask, “Why are you here?” Tsukihi put her phone in her pocket as she started to explain.

“They found a dead body in room 719. It's related to the case I was telling you about on Friday. Same sort of ritual done with the body. The body was only found today, but apparently the victim's been dead for a few days now. Cops have been here for a few hours now, but I couldn't get here until just now. So, if you'll excuse me, I need to go do my job.”

She brushed past Nadeko, who turned around and started following her. “W-well, 719 is my friend's apartment. If he's dead, then…” Putting on her best shocked face, Nadeko tried preemptively defending herself. “I know it'll be a crime scene now, but can you let me in? I just need to grab my thing and get out.” With a sigh, Tsukihi turned back around. “Doubt it. Tell me what it is and depending where it is, I could grab it for you. As you said, it's a crime scene.”

Nadeko grimaced and started fidgeting. “It's, uh… It's a small scrunchie. It's white, not especially big. It's… a childhood momento. Means a lot to me.” Tsukihi thought for a second, then nodded. “While I'm in there, I'll look for it. If I find it and it isn't considered evidence, I'll talk to my boss about getting it to you. This will take time, though. Will take at least a few hours. You should probably go home now and next time we see each other, if it worked out well, I'll get it back to you then. That okay?” Nadeko hesitated before nodding. “Alright. That's fine. This- This could be how our second date starts, right? This Friday?” Tsukihi smiled, laughed, and nodded cheerfully. “Sure! Works for me!”

With that, Nadeko turned back towards the stairs. Tsukihi, puzzled, questioned that. “Not gonna take the elevator?” Nadeko shook her head. “I prefer stairs. It's good exercise. Plus the area around it is too crowded for me.” Then, once again, she turned around and began her descent.

She hurried home. By the time she was back, she was thoroughly exhausted. She collapsed in bed and, after a short rest to catch her breath, she checked her phone. Tsubasa had sent her a text recently. Nadeko turned upwards to face the ceiling in bed, and, holding her phone precariously, checked the message.

“Hey, how are you doing? I noticed stuff was up with you at work today, you okay?” Nadeko took her time typing a response. “Yeah, it's alright. There was something important I had to deal with that was time sensitive, but it should be dealt with.” Far faster than would be reasonable, Tsubasa responded: “Glad to hear it! I was rather worried about you, but I'm glad it turned out well. What was it, if you're up for telling me?” Nadeko hesitated before responding. “I lost something. I didn't find it today, but I talked to someone who can get it for me. It should turn out fine.” Promptly, Hanekawa responded. “Glad to hear that! Hopefully, you'll be doing better tomorrow, then.”

“Oh, well, I won't be seeing the person again until Friday. We're going to be having dinner and she'll give it then.”

“Ah. Got it. I understand. Good luck with your date on Friday, then, although it sounds like you may not need it.”

“Bitch, whatever you're assuming isn't what's happening.”

“^_^”

With a groan, Nadeko set down her phone. She sat up and walked over to the kitchen, where she prepared dinner. Little over an hour later, she was done and back in bed, this time for the night. As a last action before bed, Nadeko checked her phone, only to see a message from Tsukihi.

“I talked with some higher ups, and there shouldn't be any issues giving you back the scrunchie. See you Friday?” Nadeko let a smile creep across her tired face. “Glad to hear that. See you then.”

And then Nadeko set her phone down, turned over, and was asleep practically instantly.


	5. shall we dance?

Once again, Nadeko arrived at the restaurant first. Rather than wait outside, however, this time she walked in and sat down in the restaurant's seating area. She didn't have to wait long before Tsukihi arrived. The pair exchanged some quick words before making their way to the table. They sat down and quickly began small talk as they looked over the menu.

“Sooooo… How was work?” Nadeko laughed a little as she shrugged. “Alright. Business as usual. The most exciting stuff this week happened merely adjacent to work.” Tsukihi cocked her head to the side. “What do you mean?” Nadeko drew in a breath as she prepared to explain.

“So you remember that coworker of mine? With the black and white hair? She's been flirting with a customer for at least a month now and it seemed like they were both into it, but it kept going absolutely nowhere, but finally she actually asked her out.” Tsukihi leaned forward. “Oh, interesting. What's this other girl like?” Nadeko gave an indifferent expression. “Gray hair. Quiet. I haven't talked to her much. I think she's studying at the local university.”

“I see, interesting.” Tsukihi leaned back, then dived into her bag. “Oh right! Here.” She pulled out a white scrunchy and handed it over to Nadeko, who grabbed it out of the other woman's hand and slid it onto her wrist. She breathed a sigh of relief, followed by a short pause in the conversation. About a minute later, she continued. “Thank you so much for this. You have no idea how important it is to me.” Tsukihi smiled back. “Well, you certainly made it seem like a big deal, so I'm glad I was able to help.”

An awkward silence grew over the table until Nadeko spoke up. “Well, what about you?” Tsukihi looked confused. “What about what?” Nadeko gestured vaguely at the other girl. “You know? Work? I told you about mine, you should tell me about yours. I'm sure tracking down a serial killer has been a lot more exciting than working at a coffee shop.” Tsukihi laughed nervously. “Well…” She trailed off.

She bit her lip visibly and glanced down at the table. “I guess the easiest way to say it is there have been a lot of developments in the case since the discovery of the latest victim, but I can't really tell you much about it because it's information that hasn't been released to the public yet. If I could, I would! Don't get me wrong. It's all just stuff I'm not allowed to talk about yet.” 

Nadeko lightly nodded at that. “Alright. I get it. Hopefully I'll be able to hear this from you someday.”

The two found themselves quiet once again, but this time, the waiter arrived shortly after to take their orders. They read them off and the waiter left, then returned shortly after with drinks. Nadeko ordered a decaf coffee and Tsukihi ordered tea.

After the waiter was gone for good, Tsukihi let out a stifled laugh, pointing towards Nadeko's cup. “I don't know why, but I'm kinda surprised to see you ordering that. Would've thought you'd be sick of the stuff, given your job.” Nadeko rolled her eyes. “I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've drank coffee at work. It's a job. It pays well enough that I can afford to get by. I'm sure some people who work at coffee shops do it because they like coffee, but not me.” She paused to blow on the cup and take a sip. “Don't get me wrong, I like coffee. It's a fine drink. It certainly helps me stay alive, what with the early mornings I work, but it's nowhere near something I care about enough to pursue a career in.” Done with what she had to say, she picked up her cup and took another sip.

Across the table, Tsukihi was absentmindedly stirring her tea with a dessert spoon. It took her some time to realize Nadeko wasn't speaking anymore. Event after that realization, she couldn't help but stare off into space, clearly distracted by something or another. Eventually, Nadeko spoke up again. “Uhhh, Tsukihi?” The young detective, clearly startled, jumped a little and dropped the spoon in her tea. “Oh! Uh, sorry! Where is my mind tonight?” She laughed that off and moved on. “Sorry. Been busy with work lately, and I guess exhaustion is finally catching up to me.”

“Well, if you're this cute when you're tired, I wouldn't mind seeing this every morning.”

Tsukihi blushed hard as she whispered out a response. “You know, that's a really smooth line. That's a good one.” Nadeko did her best to keep a straight face, but before long, a blush began to creep across her cheeks. Upon seeing that, Tsukihi giggled and the pair started laughing together. As Nadeko calmed herself, she spoke up. “God. I cannot be suave.” She signed and continued, “But you are in fact incredibly cute like this. A serious offer to move in together on the second date is beyond me, though.” 

Tsukihi killed off her laughter and waved Nadeko down. “It's fine, it's fine. That offer is way too early, but… give it some time and it might be more appropriate.” She smiled and jabbed a finger in Nadeko's direction. “More importantly: I really like it when you blush. I need to figure out how to make that happen more often if this relationship is going to last.”

Nadeko let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. “Well, I mean, a surefire way to get that is to bring up embarrassing stories from when I was in school. Like-” She cut herself off as she started blushing. “Right. You're not hearing these unless you get me drunk enough to spill.” Tsukihi reached into her bag and grabbed a pen and notepad. She spoke aloud as she wrote. “G-e-t N-a-d-e-k-o d-r-u-n-k f-o-r a-m-u-s-i-n-g s-e-c-r-e-t-s slash b-l-u-s-h-i-n-g”

Nadeko groaned with faux exasperation. “The secrets aren't cute. It's just embarrassing shit. Stuff like old crushes.” She stopped. “Hey wait! The tip of your pen isn't even out. You weren't writing that down.” Tsukihi blepped. “You're right. I don't need to write this down because I would remember anything a girl as cute as you would say.”

Nadeko blushed.

“Oh! So calling you cute works, huh? Only sometimes, but that's still worth writing down.” Nadeko tried to recover and defend herself. “Hearing it from you out of nowhere like that is different. Expect this to have diminishing returns.” Tsukihi nodded and smiled.

“Changing topic: is it wrong for me to call you my girlfriend? Or should we wait for that?”

Whatever remaining composure Nadeko still had left drained instantly. She dropped her head and felt her cheeks burn up as her blushing grew. Across the table, Tsukihi couldn't help but giggle to herself. It took the pair a number of minutes to finally recompose themselves.

Nadeko took a sip from her previously untouched cup of water. “So what was that getting me drunk? Seems like pretty irresponsible behavior for a cop.” Tsukihi smiled slightly and shrugged. “I'm a detective. Different rules.” Nadeko leaned forward. “And does that mean different ethics?” Tsukihi mirrored her. “It can.”

“Kinky.”

The two girls broke into laughter once more. It wasn't until the waiter returned once more with their food that they were able to quell their laughter. They thanked the waiter as he left and began their meal. They ate in silence for a couple minutes before Nadeko spoke up with a question.

“So was that flirting? Cause if so, it barely makes sense. Is it a kink thing? Dubious ethics isn't something I'm into, probably.” Tsukihi waved her hand to indicate uncertainty. “Fuck, dude, I don't know. I was just following your lead.” Nadeko giggled at that. “Well, if neither of us know if it's flirting or not, then it probably isn't.” 

“I don't think our inexperience should be treated as proof. Seems like a bad idea.”

“Well, what if I want it to be flirting?”

“Does it work that way?”

“Does it?”

“ _ Does it _ ?”

“Fuck, dude. I don't know.”

Tsukihi smiled as she ate a bite of her meal. “Now, I don't exactly have much to compare against, but I think this date is going well.” Nadeko paused mid-bite. “Is it? I don't really know how we'd quantify that.” Tsukihi responded after a moment of hesitation, “Well, I'm having a fun time. Are you?” Nadeko shrugged. “Yeah. You're nice to talk to. I'd do this a third time.” Tsukihi nodded. “Then I'd say it's going well.”

The pair fell silent once more as they focused more on eating. Occasional words were exchanged, but the conversation had died. However, after a few minutes, Tsukihi stopped and stared inquisitively at Nadeko. Nadeko didn't pay it much mind, but after a short time, Tsukihi was still staring. At some point she had started pursing her lips. Nadeko waved her hand in front of the detective a few times. When that provoked no response, she rolled her eyes and called out to the other girl. “Hey Tsukihi! You there?” The other girl jumped in her seat, clearly very startled. She blinked several times and attempted to gather herself. She shook her head back and forth and rubbed the bridge of her eyes. She attempted to brush the incident off and moved to explain herself. “Oh, uh. Been pulling a lot of late nights lately. Work’s been pretty demanding and I’ve found myself drifting off more than a few times. Didn’t mean to do that, so uh-” Nadeko interrupted her with a sighful laugh. “Look. I wake up at four in the morning every day. I get being tired from work. It really sucks.”

Tsukihi rested her head on the table and closed her eyes. “Yeah… Hopefully the case shouldn’t take much more time, though. We’ve picked up some leads that seem important. And once this is over… I get a break, but I doubt it’ll be long.” She opened her eyes and glanced up at Nadeko, leaving her head in place. “I’m hoping my next case isn’t this much work. Most of the stuff I handled in training was a ton easier. Stuff like this is so rare and unconventional and… freaky. I don’t like to say it, but the cult-like feeling of this case gives me the creeps.” Nadeko interrupted quickly. “Sorry.” Tsukihi did her best to shake her head while remaining in place. “Eh. Nothing for you to apologize for.” Nadeko rolled her eyes. “I’m trying to give you emotional support. ‘Sorry’ means things aside from a straightforward apology.” Tsukihi smiled faintly. “Fine. I’ll accept your apology. Dumbass.” Nadeko recoiled in faux shock. “I just introduced you to new vocabulary and you’re calling  _ me _ a dumbass?” Tsukihi did a misshapen shrug from her lower position. “I called you a dumbass because you’re a dumbass. A cute dumbass, but a dumbass all the same.”

“Well, at least I have something going for me.”

“Maybe my priorities are skewed.” Nadeko tilted her head questioningly and glanced at her girlfriend. “Abooouuuut the date? Our relationship?” Tsukihi blinked wildly and lifted her head, leaning back in her seat. “Oh, no, not that. Mind’s back on work. I don’t know. I’ve heard from coworkers and teachers in training that this sort of work desensitizes you to death, corpses, whatever. That’s freaky to think about, but I’m worried my attitude is alreadys skewed. Maybe growing up in a family of cops did this to me. This case has had me thinking about that. Maybe it’s a bad sign for my career? If I’m shaken from this, what’s that gonna mean when I find something worse? Will there be something worse? Is this the worst it gets? I can’t exactly retire after one case, so I’m stuck here. But why am I even thinking about that? The issue is this case and the toll it's taking on me. But hopefully, soon, it will be done and I can move on and past this. It's- It's been a lot on me, and unfortunately the worst might still be to come, but then it will be over and I can put this past me.”

She stopped and let silence hang. Nadeko let loose a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. “Are you- Are you okay?” Tsukihi started shaking her head before stopping and nodding. “Yeah. I'm fine. I didn’t mean to bring the mood down with that. Just had some stuff on my mind. Sorry.” Nadeko had been fidgeting with an unused spoon on the table, but at this time set it down. “There’s that word again.” Tsukihi rolled her eyes. “Yeah, but that’s how it’s usually used. I’m not a nerd like you.” 

The two were quiet for a beat before Nadeko gestured down at her plate. “Sooo… Are we done here? Do we wanna get desert or something?” Tsukihi glanced around, then down at her phone, checking the time. “I’d love to, but I don’t think I should linger much longer. Work demands work always.” She picked up her tea cup off the table and smiled. “Still need to finish my drink, though, and who knows how long that will take.” As she took a sip, Nadeko glanced at her empty cup and shrugged. Tsukihi set her cup back down as Nadeko spoke up. “So is it too soon to start planning our third date?” Tsukihi nodded rather certainly. “Finish this one first. I’m sure we’ll get our third date eventually.” Nadeko looked at Tsukihi with confusion on her face. “Eventually?” Tsukihi made a noise of uncertainty. “You know? Eventually. Whenever works for us. I don’t know what my schedule will look like in a week with how this case is developing, so plans so far flung in the future as Sunday are difficult to manage, let alone a week in the future. But who knows, maybe we’ll shift things up a bit and you’ll take me to your apartment.” Nadeko shook her head. “Trust me, there isn’t much to see there. It’s just a room with a bed and stuff. Pretty messy. I keep snakes, but that’s about the only notable feature. It’s an apartment I can afford while working at a coffee shop.” Tsukihi shivered slightly. “Oh, snakes kinda freak me out, but I’d still be interested in seeing the ones you have. Maybe you’ll be able to spark a new interest in me.” Nadeko fidgeted in her seat. “Maybe. I think we’d get more from you showing me where you live. Detectives probably make more money than baristas.”

“I have no idea if that’s true or not, but I still live with my parents. So does my sister. Koyomi doesn’t cause he has his own place with his girlfriend, but you really don’t need to meet him. But I mean, if you wanna meet my parents after two dates, then that’s on you.” Nadeko bit her lip. “Oh, huh. Maybe put that off for another time, then.” Tsukihi smiled and took another sip of her drink, then responded, “Another time.” Nadeko followed that up quickly. “Still tho, living with your parents? I haven’t done that since I moved out for college. I go back every now and then, but I can’t even remember the last time I talked to my dad.” Tsukihi frowned. “Not on good terms with him?” Nadeko shook her head. “It’s nothing especially combative, but I don’t really like him. Both my parents had a different idea of what I should be compared to who I ended up becoming and we fought a lot over it. I don’t even want to know how they’d react to hearing that I’m dating a girl.” Tsukihi grimmanced. “Ah, that type. Thankfully, my parents are pretty fine about this.” She stopped to laugh a little. “If they weren’t, none of their children would ever talk to them again.” Nadeko snorted, then quickly followed up Tsukihi’s statement with a question. “Wait, you said your brother lives with his girlfriend?” Tsukihi shrugged. “Yeah. And?” Nadeko nodded. “Alright.”

Tsukihi lifted her cup to her lips to take another sip, only to notice it was empty. She sank slightly in her seat with disappointment. She turned it over as if to demonstrate its emptiness to Nadeko. The brown-haired girl nodded, understanding the message Tsukihi was sending her. “Guess we’re done here, then.” Tsukihi nodded and waved a waiter over. She requested the check and turned back to Nadeko. “This was fun. Don’t know when we’ll be able to do this again, but I hope it isn’t long.” Before Nadeko could respond, the waiter returned. Both girls began reaching into their purses, but when Tsukihi noticed Nadeko mirroring her, she spoke up. “Oh, I’ll cover this one.” Nadeko began to protest, but Tsukihi shot that down. “It’s fine. Just accept this. Besides, I probably owe you.” Nadeko stared at her with a quizzical look. “Owe me for what?” Tsukihi unconsciously grimaced, then tried to recover and tried to pass it off. “Uh, don’t worry about it.” Nadeko chuckled a little. “I don’t think there’s a more worrying set of words than ‘Don’t worry about it.’” Tsukihi groaned. “Look. Let me give you this. If you want to be even, then next time we’re at dinner together, you can pay the bill yourself.” Nadeko rolled her eyes. “Fine. I’ll pay next time.” Tsukihi took out her card and called over the waiter once more to hand the bill back.

“Guess we’re done then.” Tsukihi looked up from her phone. “Yeah, guess we are. This was fun.” She continued as she tapped away at her phone, busy with some unknown message. “Karen should be on her way.” The waiter returned to give Tsukihi her card back. The pair stood up and started walking out. Nadeko remained oblivious to what awaited outside as she pulled out her phone to check the nearby train schedules. Tsukihi walked a little ahead and opened the door for the other girl.

“Sorry.”


	6. she explains, for the happy ending

Nadeko paced back and forth. She didn’t have much else to do. She also didn’t know how much longer she would neat to wait. It had been several hours now since an officer had come by and several days since her arrest. She hadn’t confessed to anything, but the evidence against her was damning. Nadeko groaned and sat back down on the cell’s bed. It was unclear how much longer she would have to wait for another visitor and the boredom was maddening. After several minutes of sitting still in silence, she stood up and began pacing again.

It was several minutes before the quiet tension that covered the room was broken by a sound from out of sight. Rather than hurry to the door and try to see what caused it, Nadeko stayed her course. As had become her routine, she sat back on the bed to rest. She took small, short breaths and recovered herself. She ignored the approaching footsteps outside and began to fidget. Even when keys rattled and the door started opening, she kept it out of mind. So many had come by to interrogate her, why did one more deserve attention. Thus, when the door opened fully, she didn’t look to see who, and didn’t see her. It wasn’t until she spoke that she realized.

“Hey.”

Nadeko looked up and practically spat venom. “What the fuck are you doing here?” Tsukihi sighed. “If I say I have good intentions, you wouldn’t believe me.” Nadeko nodded. Tsukihi continued: “I want you to know, I do feel really bad about this. But you need to understand that whether or not I was involved, you would have been caught. You fucked up by forgetting that scrunchie. I don’t know what importance it has to you, but if you hadn’t brought it, you wouldn’t have left it behind. You-”

“I had to bring it.”

“Why?” When Nadeko didn’t respond, Tsukihi pushed the point further. “You’re incredibly methodical. You didn’t even show up on security cameras. They’re still trying to figure out how you did this. So how did you make such a basic mistake?” Still looking at the floor, Nadeko practically whispered her response. “It doesn’t matter why. I’m not telling you.” Tsukihi stared at Nadeko for a short time as the two let a silence cloak the room. Without breaking it, Tsukihi sat down on the bed next to the brown-haired serial killer. She adjusted herself slightly, then poked at it and sighed deeply.

“These beds are terrible. It’s inhumane.” The surly serial killer refused to respond, so Tsukihi chose to keep talking. “I know apologies don’t matter much at this point, but I really do feel bad about all this. I only learned on Tuesday after I found the scrunchie. I’d hoped that the story you told me was true, but there was some of the victim’s blood on it. I also looked into your story and you had no connection to the victim. I brought this up and it was investigated and that made it pretty clear you were behind this. It would’ve happened with or without me.” Finally, Nadeko spoke once more. “But you knew enough to make these connections and tip them off about this. I don’t care if you think it was inevitable or not. This happened because of you.” Another short silence passed over them as Tsukihi tried to figure out how to respond.

“I still love you. If- If you’re fine with it, I want to keep visiting you, not as the person responsible for your arrest but a- As your girlfriend. I was taken off the case Saturday, too. Conflict of interest. So there’s -” Nadeko cut her off. “Even if I wanted to, I have no reason to trust you again in my life. This is a betrayal beyond anything you can work past.” Tsukihi looked away. “Yeah, you’re right. You have no reason to forgive me.”

Seemingly ignoring her, Nadeko stood up and began pacing the room again. With little else to do, Tsukihi continued talking. “I’ll admit to fault here even if your mistake made this inevitable with or without my contributions. I helped the effort to bring you here. I don’t expect you to forgive me for this. But I really do love you and I hope that despite the fact that you don’t trust me anymore, you’ll believe that. I’m responsible for ruining your life. I did this to you, but because of that, I want to be here with you. I want to be able to visit you and talk to you and do whatever I can to make up for this. I still love you and I hope you still love me. If I’m responsible for this, then let me do penance for this by spending my life with you.”

Nadeko turned around and glared at Tsukihi. “Do you not care about the people that I killed? Or the fact that I had no plans to stop? Have you decided that morality no longer matters? And if yes, why care now after you’ve already ruined my life?” Tsukihi inhaled a deep breath, then exhaled, then looked up at Nadeko. “If I tell you this, then can you tell me if you still love me? I want a direct answer.” Nadeko stared intensely at Tsukihi for several seconds, then sighed and sat back down. She crossed her legs and turned towards Tsukihi. “Talk, then.” Tsukihi nodded, then mirrored Nadeko’s position.

“I’ll answer your questions in order. Firstly, yes, I do care about the fact that, plainly put, you’re a murderer. It’s something that’s hard to put out of mind, but it doesn’t change how I see you. Nadeko is still Nadeko. That you wouldn’t have stopped is… hard to come to terms with, but you’ve been stopped now. If things had continued and my ignorant bliss had endured, maybe that would be different, but I think saying ‘Do I not care that you would have kept killing?’ means little when you’ve already stopped.” She stopped to take a breath and give Nadeko space to respond. 

When no such response came, Tsukihi resumed her monologue. “The morality aspect is difficult, but I think my answer has little to do with your question. I don’t think there’s any moral element to my desire to give you companionship. If you have to spend your life in prison, then I want to be there for you. That is because I love you and I want to do what I can for you. I suppose the moral element is in giving you this kindness in spite of what you’ve done and what I did to you. The first is that I wanted to give you that kindness from the start, but I wasn’t in a position to do so. It was the responsibility and duty of my job to ensure your arrest. I did that, but that’s in the past. The other element at play is that I don’t hate you. I love you, but even if I didn’t, I would think you deserve the kindness of someone caring about you, despite your crimes. The morality of this is that I don’t think what you’ve done justifies ruining your life in every possible way.”

Nadeko practically snarled her response. “It just justifies ruining it in some ways?” Tsukihi glanced away, avoiding looking the prisoner in the eyes.

“What was going through my head is that those three people you killed aren’t alive at all anymore. That the cost for those three lives is your own. But I’ve had time to think about this and I really do regret what I did. I wish I could have worked with this to ensure things wouldn’t end up this bad, but the past is the past. I regret my actions and want to make up for that.” She stopped and took a breath. “Look, I’m getting tired of repeating myself on this point. I know what I did hurt you and I’ve explained why I did it. Let’s move on.”

“That said, while I’ve already answered it, I really want to focus on why I care now. Do you understand this? I still love you. I, Tsukihi Araragi, love you, Nadeko Sengoku. And I hope you love me back because that love is the answer to all your questions.” She sighed, attempting to ease her tension. “There. I've answered your question, now answer mine.”

From across the bed, Nadeko glared at Tsukihi. “Love’s such a fickle thing, isn’t it? So trite? And we’ve known each other for, what, a week and a half at most? I wonder why you still love me. You know that so much of my willingness to engage with you came from the fact that I knew you were working on my case? I was using you.” Tsukihi frowned sharply. “Yeah, I know. I also know you did little with what knowledge you got from me. You still got caught and you even let your guard down around me when, realistically speaking, you had no reason to. If you treated me as a threat, then you wouldn’t have been so lulled. All that leads me to suspect you still love me.” Nadeko rolled her eyes. “But that’s predicated on the idea that I ever loved you. Are you so certain of that?” Tsukihi’s eyes filled with determination and she practically shouted her response. “Yes! I know you loved me! I know you’re smart enough to not make the mistake of trusting me any other way. I can say with certainty that you loved me and while I’m less sure of it, I suspect that much is still true. Do you, Nadeko Sengoku, love me?” Nadeko refused to respond and instead just glared.

“Your silence tells me more than your words ever could. I understand you might hate me, but that doesn’t mean you can’t also still love me and if that’s the case, then I understand your conflicted emotions over this. I wronged you. I’m sorry. I want to make up for it, but I can’t do that if you don’t accept that you still love me. Please, don’t refuse me.”

“Even if I do love you, and even if I admit that to you, what could you do? You want to visit me in prison? What good does that do? Once on interval, I get to meet with someone from the outside, while the rest of my life is spent in here alone. It’s not nothing, but it might as well be for as far as your attempted penance is concerned. What’s one hour a month, or even one hour a week, to a lifetime? Do you not understand what you did to me? The gravity of this all? I’m spending my life in here and you’re going to visit me for a few weeks or maybe a year or two before you give up and move on with your fucking cop life. But I’m stuck with this. You’ll decide your penance is paid and move on with your life. You have that right and that ability. You took away my right and ability to move past this.”

Tsukihi smiled. Nadeko’s glare softened into confusion, which prompted Tsukihi to explain. “My penance isn’t just to visit you. But before I explain further, I need you to tell me you love me, even if it’s a conflicted love, even if it’s a bitter love, and even if it’s a flawed love. Tell me that you love me in any way and we can move forward. We’re running out of time now, so don’t bullshit me. Tell me you love me. Please.” Nadeko broke her stare as she looked down at the bed as the cell grew quiet. Then, little more than a whisper, she responded.

“I hate you. I despise you. I want you dead. But I still love you.”

She sighed and looked back up at Tsukihi, who’s grin only continued to grow. She stood up and started walking to the door. Nadeko, in a shift from her previous tone, practically shouted at the detective. “What, so you’re going to just leave me now? After all that, you’re done?” Tsukihi shook her head and practically giggled as she responded. “Nope! Get up, you’re coming too.” Nadeko’s look of confusion returned. She began to question Tsukihi, but was interrupted. “And please, be quick about it. We need to be out of here soon or we’ll both be in big trouble. I did my best to hide the body, but I don’t have the experience you do.” She smiled brightly back into the cell, then gestured to Nadeko. “Let’s go. I have time to learn and you can teach me."


	7. epilogue: in a foreign town

Blood covered the room. The curtains were thrown open, but their covering meant the light pouring in tinted everything crimson red. The killer’s actions were methodical, but that didn’t mean they weren’t messy. She whispered and muttered to herself, imperceptible to anyone who wasn’t standing right beside her. The victim lay on the floor, scattered in pieces. The floorboards would need to be replaced. A bag sat in the corner to the side, mostly empty, with its contents now in the hands of the killer. She went about her ritual as usual, all but ignoring her pupil on the couch. She sat with rapt attention, soaking in every action the killer took, as if it were words of gospel. The blood that coated everything hadn’t missed her, but if she minded, she didn’t care. Her studious stare held as the killer commenced the ritual. After some time, it was done. The two embraced and held each other tight, before proceeding to prepare the room for their departure. After a methodical scouring to remove the traces of their intrusion, the pair changed from their bloodied clothing, far too conspicuous to wear out, and began to depart. The apartment was such a height that the front door was unnecessary, so instead, they turned towards the street-side window. The ex-detective opened it, then leaned over and kissed the killer, before leaping out and landing gracefully. She positioned herself to catch the killer and braced herself for the weight. The killer lept and was caught. With their mission complete and no more loose ends to tie up, the pair turned away and started walking home, even striking up a conversation and debating the idea of stopping for food or a date on their way back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the moral of the story? all cops are bastards and murder is okay as long as you're gay
> 
> title + chapter names all come from Yuki Kajiura songs


End file.
